Onondaga County wants to sell the Van Duyn Home & Hospital, above, to a private nursing home operator.2010 photo by Stephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-Standard

Onondaga County lawmakers have been asked to transfer Van Duyn Home & Hospital to a county-created development corporation as an interim step toward selling the 513-bed nursing home to a private operator.

Legislators voted 17-0 Friday to hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Nov. 26 on a proposal from the county executive’s office to transfer the home to the nonprofit Onondaga Civic Development Corp. A vote on the transfer could be held in December.

Ann Rooney, deputy county executive for human services, said the development corporation will be able to offer more “flexible” payment terms to Upstate Services Group, the Rockland County-based nursing home operator to which the county hopes to sell nursing home late next year.

The development corporation could hold a mortgage on the nursing home, allowing Upstate Services to pay for the purchase — which is expected to be between $8 million and $10 million — over a period of time that is still to be determined, she said.

The development corporation would not receive a project fee for the transaction but would be compensated by the county for its legal fees, Rooney said.

The county created the development corporation in 2009 to issue bonds to assist not-for-profit organizations, such as hospitals, in financing expansion projects. It is administered by the county’s economic development office.

Legislator Danny Liedka, chairman of the Legislature’s Health Committee, said he has been told that any mortgage held by the development corporation would have a term of a few years at most.

County officials say operating losses at the nursing home make continued ownership by the county unsustainable. They say the losses, which must be covered by the taxpayers, are projected to total $115 million from 2013 to 2022 because of low Medicaid reimbursement rates for municipal-owned nursing homes.

The Civil Service Employees Association, the union that represents 500 of Van Duyn's 559 employees, opposes selling the facility to a private operator.